Thoughts on Fish At Bay interactive storytelling class project and convergence

After a semester of work, my interactive storytelling class launched its site about fish in Biscayne Bay launched last Wednesday: Fish At Bay.

Hats off to our converged class of "print" and visual journalism students: Walyce Almeida, Maria Arroyave, Erica Landau, Brian Schlansky, Jen Shook, Jamie Straz, Alex Thacker and Jason Walker.

Our professors, Kim Grinfeder (visual journalism) and Sam Terilli (print journalism), did a great job overseeing the project -- and recruiting everyone. Also, thanks to our TA, Zeven Rodriguez.

To provide some background, Grinfeder and Terilli have collaborated the past two fall semesters with their Web production and in-depth storytelling classes, respectively. I was in the fall 2008 in-depth class.

With this spring's (experimental) interactive storytelling class, they took it to the next level of convergence. As far as I know, this was the first class at the University of Miami School of Communication to combine the talents of print and visual journalism students in one class.

I took advantage of the opportunity to get more experience shooting and editing video, as well as to become proficient with Final Cut Pro. I particularly enjoyed being able to work in so may areas:

• Write history story
• Shoot b-roll and take photos for history video
  
• Edit history video
• Edit and write cutlines for history photos
• Edit Delicate Balance video
  
• Shoot an interview for the Building on the Bay video
  
• Copy edit all stories
• Write about page
  
• Add p tags and hyperlinks (plus find links for) all stories
  

I'm usually critical of the lack of collaboration between the print and visual programs, but I've seen some very encouraging strides this semester.

Grinfeder and Terilli get it. Chris Delboni, my online journalism professor, and Michelle Seelig, the spring Web production professor, get it. (More thoughts on the online journalism class and our collaboration with the Web production class to follow).

So, what now?

Without a question, the interactive storytelling class should be a standard course, and it should be required for all journalism students at UM. Yes, that means bringing in broadcast as well. And there needs to be more converged classes, like an introductory storytelling class (more on this to come as well).

Resistance is futile. You must adapt.

Weigh in: What do you think of the Fish At Bay site?

What's the best video equipment for a student paper's first purchase?

(Preface: It's not about the technology. It's about the story and how you tell it. Technology is just a tool.)

Kevin Koehler, contributing editor at the Wake Forest Old Gold & Black, asked a question via Twitter Tuesday evening:

kev097 Need to recommend HD camcorder for newspaper today. Probably going with hard drive. Suggestions on models, accessories, research?

Kyle Hansen (TheSpartanDaily.com editor at San Jose State), Kevin and I discussed ideas via Twitter and I volunteered to post the equipment The Miami Hurricane plans to purchase before next fall:

• Canon HV20 a mini-DV, HD video camera (2) [should we get the HV30 instead?]
• Canon BP2L14 battery (2)
• Rode shotgun microphone (2)
• Sennheiser Evolution G2 EW100 wireless mic combo kit (1) [looks like this this has been discontinued from B&H]
  
• Includes EW100 G2 Combo System, EW100 G2 Lavalier System, ENG Handheld Microphone, Storage Case and Cables
  
• Hosa MIT-156 XLR to mini connector (1)
• EH 150 supra-aural closed back stereo headphones (2)
• Sunpak 7001DX tripod (2)
• Three-way pan/tilt head with quick release
• Tiffen 43mm UV filter (2)
  

This year we have primarily used Flip video cameras after starting off with point-and-shoots (Matt Bunch and I). These have worked OK, but the big problem was audio. The best quality videos came when we checked out equipment from the School of Communication.

And I've used my HV20, which I bought during spring break, for the paper. For example, a video of the PD press conference after a student died on campus:


(This is the pretty one the assistant multimedia editor, Matt Wallach, edited. Here is the quick-and-dirty version I posted right after the press conference, sans b-roll. I miked the chief with a lav.)

I love my HV20. It's not perfect, but it does everything I need.

More about video: Newspaper Video - Yahoo! Groups

Weigh in: What video equipment does your organization use? What do you think about The Hurricane's planned list?

CommTogether right now, over...journalism

I'm a student in the School of Communication at the University of Miami, but you would think that the various journalism programs (print, broadcast and visual) speak different languages sometimes from the lack of collaboration that is present.

Yes, there have been several notable successes -- and I've been lucky to be in three classes this year that focus on convergence (In-depth reporting for convergent media, online journalism and interactive storytelling) -- but the level of cooperation is still not where it should be.

I kept all this is mind while devising a new final project for my CNJ 442 online journalism class, after the first plan regarding the new TheMiamiHurricane.com didn't work out a planned.

The result is a social networking site the class is developing using Ning:

CommTogether

The general idea came to me one night as I was chatting online with Hurricane Visuals Editor Will Wooten (check out his recent site redesign). Regarding the group name, which I love, credit goes to Kiersten Schmidt.

Here are details from the CNJ 442 proposal that I drafted and the class helped refine:

Goals

• Bring together in one forum the three journalism programs at the University of Miami School of Communication: print, broadcast and visual
• Recruit students, faculty, staff, alumni and prospective students
• Begin a conversation about the future of school’s journalism programs
• Conceptualize collaborative projects for classes, students, media outlets, etc.
• Take ideas and turn them into reality

Elements

• Profile pages: students, faculty, administrators
• Groups: programs, classes, projects, media
• Feeds: blogs, news, etc.
• Photos and videos
• Blogs: internal
• Comments

Action plan

• Discuss and decide on name for group (complete)
  
• Create network (complete)
• Create profile pages (complete)
• Create groups within network: programs, classes, media, organizations, etc.
  
• Invite/recruit students, professors, administrators, staff, alumni and prospective students (in progress)
  
• Table in the SoC courtyard
  
• Solicit ideas from everyone regarding the future of curriculum, organizations
• Conceptualize possible collaboration projects, way to converge
• Maintain the discussion
• Continue to recruit new group members

UPDATE: I forgot one very important reason for this site:

Students should have a voice in the development of curriculum.

Weigh in: Any suggestions/ideas for this site?

Advice for bloggers, part one: Reader stats

I started blogging in November to discuss online journalism, journalism education and other related topics.

Since mid-January, I've also been using the blog to fulfill an online journalism class requirement because everyone in class is required to maintain a blog.

Professor Sam Terilli, who spoke to my class Thursday about law and the Internet (see related video), brought up a point that one of my classmates, Josh Newman, mentioned on his blog Friday:

"[Terilli asked] the question that, I think, made most of my classmates (including myself, excluding Greg Linch) squirm a little. 'How many people read your blogs?' ...Silence."

Josh goes on to mention Google Analytics. This is a great service, but it's only one way to measure how many readers you have.

I subscribe to all of my classmates' blogs via Google Reader and would recommend that they utilize FeedBurner, an earlier suggestion (How to...use FeedBurner) that the class has been using, to keep track of their subscribers.

FeedBurner is great for adding an e-mail subscription widget, something our professor required, but that should only be a preliminary step.

Explore the different tabs in FeedBurner, specifically "Publicize" and "Analyze" -- the latter of which shows you how many RSS subscribers you have. The number of subscribers is also available on the "My Feeds" page.

There's a lot that can be said about the question of increasing blog traffic and readers, so I decided to divide my thoughts into shorter posts.

Stay tuned...

UPDATE, March 23: I clarified above that not all journalism students are required to blog -- only the ones in the CNJ 442 Online Journalism class.

Other School of Communication students have their on personal blogs and may blog through the SoC's Web site.

Also, I should have mentioned SiteMeter as another option for blog/site analytics.

Ricardo Lopez discusses video with online journalism class

Ricard Lopez, a Miami Herald visual journalist, gave a presentation to my online journalism class about video Thursday evening. He was joined by Candace Barbot, a photojournalist convert to video.

Ricardo last spoke at UM during Communication Week, leading one of the new media workshops and participating in the new media panel. Check out advice he and other panelists gave students here.

See examples of his work and be sure to check out Chicken Busters, which is everyone's favorite.

WeMedia returns to Miami this week

It may not be the most well-known conference, but WeMedia is certainly not an event to be missed for this student journalist.

Take a look at the schedule and a list of participants.

This will be my second WeMedia and, as with last year's, I am able get in for free with a guest code from the School of Communication, one of the sponsors.

Compared to the regional (SPJ) and national (SPJ and ACP/CMA) conferences I've attended, which are great in their own respects, WeMedia is much more cutting-edge.

Let's look at some highlights of WeMedia 2007:

• Professionals from multiple facets of media in the same, non-keynote events (gasp!)
  
• An entire session by Reuters on Second Life
  
• Livebloggers galore
  
• A session moderated by The New York Times' futurist-in-residence that featured Craig Newmark, who some journalists would like put in a pillory for creating Craig's List
  

And how many conferences use (effectively) video players, tags and widgets in their online presence? Have their own social networking site? WeMedia Community

Continuing with my recently established tradition, I plan to liveblog as many of the events I attend as possible.

Will you be there? Drop me line.

VIDEO: New media panelists offer advice for journalism students

New media panelists offer advice for journalism students (from Feb. 15)

The transformation of global media with Craig Dubow, Gannett CEO (Comm Week)

About to commence liveblogging...
The transformation of global media with Craig Dubow

7:31 p.m.
Dubow gave an overview of changes in media consumption in the past decade and discussed where Gannett stands.

8:57 p.m.
I apologize for the missing liveblog--both of my laptop batteries died. I took notes with (prepare yourself) a notepad and pen. I also had a digital recorder plugged into the sound board, so all is not lost.

I will summarize some key points and add multimedia soon.

10:20 p.m.
Here are Dubow's answers to a couple questions I asked him after the event. (It took longer to upload than it did to make...)

Wanted: Resident Butt-Kicker (Thoughts on journalism education)

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about journalism schools and what journalism students are not learning.

One of the problems is that there’s too much talk. Educators have known about the Internet, multimedia storytelling and convergence for years.

No more excuses.

I realize that this post constitutes talk, but I would like to think of it more as a call to action. To make sure change happens at J-schools, I propose hiring a Resident Butt-Kicker.

I plan to expand on these in future posts, but here’s where we need to start:

1. Online first, print second: Print is not dead, but the idea of a purely "print" major should be thrown out the window. Who wants to pay money to be taught in preparation for the last century?

Start with the essential concepts of writing, reporting, editing, critical thinking, law and ethics, but don't limit it to merely one form of storytelling. Also, online journalism should not be some 400- or 500-level class that only some students take – it should be drilled into everyone's head early.

2. Think outside the classroom: How can you teach journalism without practical experience?

Ideas: Structure your class like a newsroom and provide an outlet for publication (e.g. class Web site); require students to work on campus media; require an internship – and help place them; etc.

3. Old dogs, learn new tricks: There's a disconnect among different classes, depending on the professor, as well as an even greater disconnect between professors who have been out of the newsroom for years and those who just came from the newsroom.

The journalism world is moving quickly and schools need to keep pace with their local news outlets so students may be viable job and internship candidates. Just like journalists in the professional world, professors need to be able to adapt and learn new concepts and skills.

Also, why are we being taught in a strict, limited mindset (i.e. print) that we will need to unlearn later? Don't teach me for today, or even tomorrow.

A journalism school should look ahead, being innovative and proactive in its approach, not reactive. Professors need to be a part of that.

4. Selecting J-students: There should be a multi-dimensional, more personalized interview process for students applying to an academic journalism program. Program directors should ask students about their specific interests in the field, evaluating if the candidate is open minded and willing to evolve.

5. Grades are failing: The grading process needs to change. It seems as if more students worry about getting good grades than actually learning. Grades aren’t worthless, but learning – and getting good experience – matters more.

Unintended, entrepreneurial failure (i.e. not because of laziness) should be embraced and utilized as a teaching tool – it is part of the learning process. Thus, students should be encouraged to go out and make mistakes while they are still in school.

6. Establish mentor programs: I hit on this general concept in my Top Ten List of Tips for Journalism Students (No. 7).

Upperclassmen should be paired with underclassmen in a formal, voluntary peer counseling system. Furthermore, every student should meet with a faculty adviser or mentor from time to time – and not just to discuss next semester's schedule.

SPJ recently started a mentor program for members, which is great. Nevertheless, it can't replace the local insight of a student or professor at your own J-school.

Weigh in: What do you think of these ideas? Students, what else do you want to see done at your school?

Note: The original time stamp on this post was incorrect. It has since been corrected.

"News coverage of civil rights in Miami" panel (Comm Week)

I am taping this event and will be liveblogging. Here's some background information.

From the Comm Week Web site:

News Coverage of Civil Rights in Miami

Panelists representing print and broadcast media will review the media’s coverage of civil rights issues – from efforts to desegregate schools and public facilities to beach “wade-ins,” protests and riots that plagued the community on into the ‘80s. How aggressive was the local media in covering the civil rights movement? What was it like for the first black reporters at Miami’s newspapers and television stations?

Panelists are:

C.T. Taylor, first black TV news reporter in Miami

Bea Hines, former reporter, The Miami Herald

Juanita Green, former reporter, The Miami Herald

Andrea Robinson, reporter, The Miami Herald

Garth Reeves, publisher emeritus, Miami Times

Bradford Brown, former president, Miami-Dade NAACP

Moderator, Beverly Counts Williams, former TV news reporter

LIVEBLOG

2:58 P.M.

Garth Reeves' father founded the Miami Times, but he didn't want to go into the newspaper business.

"One day you'll find out how valuable this newspaper really is," his father told him.

After he took over the Times, the younger Reeves began to face tough issues regarding coverage, but the paper had to be restrained in what it published.

"You were practicing journalism with your hands tied behind your back," he said. "Now we have more kickass journalism. ... I'm happy now because you're as a free as bird."

3:00 P.M.

C.T. Taylor grew up observing what was going in the community, reading the Miami Times and seeing its impact.

"I always wanted to be in journalism. I always wanted to be a radio announcer."

He sat with his father and listened to games on the radio. Despite the obstacles, his father said you he could do anything he wanted to do.

"The doors to the media were shut and bolted" at white stations, he said. "But I kept my hope and desire."

So, he went to a black radio station and they hired him to be a cleaner. While he wasn't on the air, he kept at it and it paid off. One night, an announcer was drunk and didn't show up for work. Just like that, he was the radio.

Eventually he became known as C.T. "The undisputed soul of the new breed."

But he wasn't satisfied--he wanted to be a TV reporter.

His chance, though not in front of the camera, came when a TV station wanted to hire him as a cameraman.

"I managed to get my black hand in the shot. Then I got a black ear in a shot, then I got the back of my head into the shot."

Channel 4 saw this and wanted to put him on the air.

-------

"It does not matter what your gender or what your race is," he said. "The main thing is to be factual and truthful."

You're recording history, Taylor said, so you have to get it right.

3:11 P.M.

Bea Hines said that, while they may have hired Taylor to cover the riots, people accused her of starting the riots with her coverage while at The Miami Herald.

Her first day at The Herald was an interesting experience.

Hines went into the lunch room and everyone stopped eating. She went up to a Hispanic food worker who was impressed; he couldn't believe she worked there.

3:20 P.M.

She was assigned to cover the riots in the early 80s because she knew the community. As she walked around, she ran into a man in a pool hall whose business was suffering as a result of the riots.

"My name is Iceberg Slim and I got hookers on the street," he told her--and there was her first story--and it ran on the front page.

But her overall role was more difficult: "I had to change the way people saw us and the way people depicted Liberty City."

3:26 P.M.

"They did what they had to do," Brad Brown said of the journalists on the panel and their contemporaries. "They changed things."

The NAACP in South Florida used to dissect stories in The Herald and gave TV stations lists of black doctors to have a variety of experts.

"It's not just the truth, but the broader truth" that's important.

NOTE: I stopped liveblogging to take some photos towards the end and unfortunately missed some great comments by The Herald's Andrea Robinson. I will be sure to go back and add them to this post or include them in a video package.

New media reporting panel

New media reporting panel

Watch the live Web cast: Live Web cast

Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson -- Miami Herald, director of site operations
Phil Lewis -- Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial
Ricardo Lopez -- Miami Herald, visual journalist
Brent McDonald -- New York Times, visual journalist
Will Payne -- Current TV, College Outreach

Phil Lewis has been at the Daily News for 30 years. The dynamic started to greatly change when they hired Rob Curley (now at Washington Post).

"We blew up our newsroom and we took a third our newsroom and said, 'You're the print side,'" Lewis said. "We took two-thirds and said you're our new media newsroom and everything you do goes to the Web first."

Suzanne Levinson became involved with The Herald's Web site in 1996.

"They felt so lucky to have an experienced journalist that knew HTML [to some extent]."

But their path has been different than the Daily News.

"We didn't have a Rob Curley; we needed a Rob Curley," she said, explaining that it was basically her and a few others on the online side advocating.

She said the tipping point for The Herald was when they realized ad revenue and circulation would continue to decline.

"Be willing to learn new things and be aware of the changing landscape," she said as advice to students.

The new mindset of The Herald: "We all have open minds. It's a change in the way they look at things, but they are all just journalists."

Ricardo Lopez began with photography but evolved as a visual journalist. He learned new tools and began working with video and Web.

Will Payne is a part the newest outlet represented on the panel, Current TV. He discussed how their dynamic is different from traditional media.

Brent McDonald, of the New York Times, has a background in documentary film and was part of the Times' multimedia pilot program in November 2005.

Discussing video journalism:
"It's still a frontier and we're still playing with how stories can be told. It's still a collaborative process."

New media workshop

New media reporting workshop

Ricardo Lopez, Miami Herald

Will Payne, Current TV

Brent McDonald, New York Times

We're going to break into groups now. I'll be back with an update later.

UPDATE, 12:11 P.M.: I was in Brent McDonald's group. He showed us his camera (a $6,000 Panasonic HD) and related gear. He also talked about techniques and what to look out in terms of lighting, sound and settings.

First two Comm Week events: Attending workshop, liveblogging

I will be attending the following sessions Friday morning as part of Comm Week 2008:

• New Media Reporting: VIDEO WORKSHOP (10 to 11:15 a.m.) I will blog at some point afterwards since I am participating in the workshop.
• PANEL: New Media Reporting – trends and challenges (11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) I plan to liveblog this and post a short multimedia package on it by Tuesday.
  

Be sure to check back at 11:30 a.m. for the liveblog. I will also post a link to the live Web cast, if available.

Comm Week: New media workshop, panel

I posted Monday about two journalism events for Comm Week 2008 (read it here); more details have since been released on two other events, a new media workshop and panel.

I will be participating in the workshop and liveblogging the panel. I will post the streaming feed for the panel and then the video once it's posted. Stay tuned.

Details from the School of Communication Web site:

New Media Reporting: VIDEO WORKSHOP

February 15, 2008
10:00 am

Location: Communication International Building 2055

Panelists:
Ricardo Lopez, Miami Herald visual journalist

Brent McDonald, New York Times visual journalist

Will Payne, Current TV

The workshop is an introduction to video journalism. Lopez, McDonald and Payne will discuss the best gear for the job, basic elements new media reporters should look for while shooting, as well as editing techniques – what to include in a Web audio-visual news story and what to avoid.

PANEL: New Media Reporting – trends and challenges

February 15, 2008
11:30 am

Location: Communication International Building 2055

Moderator: Chris Delboni, UM / SoC

Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson -- Miami Herald, director of site operations

Phil Lewis -- Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial

Ricardo Lopez -- Miami Herald, visual journalist

Brent McDonald -- New York Times, visual journalist

Will Payne -- Current TV, College Outreach

Side note: Check out this video I produced after Suzanne Levinson spoke to my online journalism class.

Miami Herald reporter discusses online research

Miami Herald metro reporter Evan Benn will begin speaking with a UM journalism class (CNJ 216 news reporting) in about a minute or so. I'm crashing the party with my laptop, digital recorder and point-and shoot.

He will be discussing online research and has a handout called "Finding people, getting stories."

This will be my first real liveblog - the test one I did with Cover It Live doesn't count.

Here are the points he will discuss:

1. Plug 'Em In

2. Find public records

3. Call around them

4. Play dumb

5. Be yourself

I'll be expanding these based on his talk as it occurs, so please be sure to check back for updates.

9: 42 A.M.: "Even when I first got into this business all we did is go out with a notebook and pen, but now it's so much different." Now, he has a Blackberry (for filing and photos), takes a digital recorder, etc.

He shot photos from courtroom with Blackberry, but they said they sucked, so he brought a point-and-shoot the next time.

Side note: I brought Evan to speak to our SPJ chapter last semester where he mentioned how he liveblogged the O.J. trial from Vegas.

"You really have to be fast and efficient and versatile, that's always the linchpin of journalism." (Hey! That's the name of this blog.)

Tip 1: "There's so much information available on the Internet," that should be where you start. Use Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc.

Tip 2: Public records: "There's a wealth of information you can find about people's lives."

9:58 A.M.:

Web resources:

• Miami-Dade County
  
• Miami-Dade clerk of courts
• Power Reporting
• Florida Department of Law Enforcement
• SunBiz
• Network Solutions - Who Is

Evan showed this entertaining video while discussing Bird Road Rudy (the Herald story is no longer online.

10:02 A.M.: We've moved on to blogging, yay!

"I think that's important in this day and age."

Evan gave an example of a recent post he wrote about an item from his hometown papers.

Tip 4: Play dumb.

"Don't be afraid to say, 'Can you slow down?' "

"When you're writing, pretend like your telling it to your friend."

For difficult stories, such as deaths and tragedies.

"Be a human first, a journalist second. Often journalists are seen as vultures."

"Be empathetic. It's O.K. to not be a robot. Make a human connection, find some common ground. If you can find that human connection, you'll find people are a lot more willing to talk to you and make you job easier."

Question from student: Are blogs replacing columns?

No, Evan says he thinks they add to the conversation.

Question from student: Do you do your own radio work?

He takes all his own audio, uploads it, listens and edits before taking it to radio studio. He writes a minute-long script, voices it and they put it all together.

VIDEO: Herald site operations director Levinson discusses online journalism

Suzanne Levinson, director of site operations at The Miami Herald, visited my online journalism class Thursday evening.

She discussed the Herald's Web site, online journalism and what students need to know to get into the field. The webmaster, visuals editor and I took the opportunity to get her thoughts on the The Miami Hurricane's redesign plans, showing her two drafts wireframes.

Pulitzer Prize-winning panel for Comm Week

Planning is in full swing for Communication Week 2008, which will take place Feb. 16-23. One of the events is a panel of Pulitzer Prize winners that almost boggles the mind.

The following people are planned to participate (from Bob Radziewicz, who has been on four Pulitzer-winning teams himself):

Madeleine Blais: won for feature writing at The Miami Herald in 1980;

Mirta Ojito: won as part of The New York Times' race in America series in 2000;

Michael Sallah: investigations editor at The Herald who won for investigative reporting at the Toledo Blade in 2004 and who directed Debbie Cenziper on last year’s local news winner on the "House of Lies" series;

Joe Oglesby: editorial page editor from The Herald who wrote most of the editorials about the detention of Haitian boat people that won in 1982;

Jim Morin: Herald cartoonist who won in 1996 for editorial cartoons.

The organizers are also trying to bring a photography winner and hope to have political and governmental reporter Michael Putney, from Miami's ABC affiliate WPLG, act as emcee. (see update below on emcee)

Job and internship panel
I have organized a panel on jobs and internships, which will take place Feb. 19 at 12:30 p.m. in Studio A.

The event will feature Rick Hirsch (managing editor for multimedia at The Miami Herald), Michelle Morgante (assistant Forida bureau chief at the AP) and Kathy Pellegrino (recruitment editor at the Sun-Sentinel).

Each participant, who does internship recruiting for his/her respective organization, will meet one-on-one with students after the discussion.

UPDATE, Feb. 8: The emcee for the Pulitzer panel will be Miami Herald executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal.

UPDATE, Feb. 12: AP photographer Al Diaz has been confirmed as the sixth panel member.

Links to other class blogs

Here is a list of links to the other student blogs from my CNJ 442 Online Journalism class:

dontcountyourchickensbeforetheyhatch.blogspot.com
establishthis.blogspot.com

heathercolvin.blogspot.com

kasperbroue.blogspot.com

kschmidt2.blogspot.com
matthewmullin.blogspot.com
natyva00.blogspot.com

sandrahurtado.blogspot.com

Weigh in: Comment on the blogs to get conversations started.

Update, Jan. 31 at 10:08 P.M.: Per a suggestion by Anna Haynes in a comment, here is a Google Reader public page for the class.

School of Comm dean finalist for Syrcause spot

Here's a breaking news story I reported Tuesday night, thanks to an item from Romanesko:

Communication dean finalist for spot at Syracuse University (The Miami Hurricane)

This was the first local reporting of the story, which broke in Syracuse. It has more background and the first public comment from Grogg.

Opening Knight

The University of Miami's Knight Center for International Media named its two chairs this morning:

Joe Treaster (left) formerly of The New York Times, and Rich Beckman formerly (right),of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Their appointment comes almost one year after the Knight Foundation announced a $10 million grant to the school.

Here is the UM press release, here is a letter from the NYT's business editor and below is a video of the press conference:



We're on our first deadline of the semester, so I'll add more to this post after we finish. Stay tuned.

UPDATE, Jan. 17 @ 9:58 P.M.: Both of these guys look like great additions to the School of Comm. Their words at press conference were very encouraging.

Check out two of Beckman's projects from when he was head of visual communications at UNC:

The Ancient Way (about elders in Galicia, Spain)

Chiloé Stories (about language of native people on Chiloe Island, Chile)